7/29/98 - Riverport Ampitheatre, Maryland Heights, MO
I just want to add to a few points discussed (or missed) in the previous
reviews. First of all, I agree with most of what was said, but secondly, this
being my 55th show, have some differing opinions.
The Gin started out note-perfect and turned into a funkathon that was great at
times, but ended up being... well, a funkfest for the funk of it. Whatever, a
25 min. Gin that was good but don't even compare it to some of the best.
Dog Log was simply hysterical. A total breakout dedicated to Paul. Trey says,
"This is his favorite Phish song." Loved it, and my dog in the car in the lot
said she
did too.
Foam was next, and as usual, was beautiful. Fish totally picked this one,
after Trey looked at him for the next number! Build, subside, challenge,
subdue... and finally this was the Foam we all adore. Just rocked.
Ficus, I had never seen this one before but thought of King Crimson when it
was being played (for less than 3 min., mind you). Great atmosphere, Mike
solos, group choruses, the whole package--it just needs some work.
Farmhouse was just like it has always been, maybe perfected a bit more, and
the Farmboys seemed to love it.
Vultures had sort of a reworked theme to it, but was very reminicent of 3
others I have seen (Shoreline, Deer Creek and... I forget). Anyway, nice
fucking tune. Don't know if had been played yet this tour, but I do know the
next one hadn't.
Glide... I somehow called this on the way down from Chi-town. One of my
favorites, especially ever since the first night, first set version at Deer
Creek in 96 that turned a rockin' set into a blowout.
Birds--ended the set. Not one of my favorites (4/4/98 Providence to open set
II blew this one away).
Set break was mellow, good petitions going around (I signed a petition against
the growing of "chemically enhanced" veggies. Some chick told me Flavor Fresh
tomatoes were made with some type of fish enzymes... or something. I signed
it.
Set II:
Spacey intro jam
Buried Alive Ha, easily the best ever played. The boys had so much fun with
this, bringing the theme back into the jam over and over. Finally, Trey kicks
in the delay loop and into... my notes say, Ghost, nope, uh, Ghost!, nope,
maybe 2001, no!
New tune Trey sings a nice country number with lyrics that go "Call me if you
ever need a fool." Not oblivious fool, but a weird connection there. Great
lyrics, probably from Tom.
AC/DC Bag, as reported by others, was pure rock n roll PHiSH at its best. And
it prepared the crowd for an anthemic...
Lizards. They stayed in Gamehenge for awhile. Shaggy flubs the verse before
"...sunk/...thunk." Still sweet.
Tube, had the start and stop jam in there towards the end, and had its usual
funky roundabout way of jamming... however, the crowd seemed to think
otherwise and many sat down! Trey, seeing this, ends Tube and begins to
lightly chant...
KUNG... Kung... Kung (People around me are asking, "What the hell's he
saying?") Very funny, I was psyched. Build up to "We CAN stage a runaway golf
cart marathon!" After seeing Mike on a cart in the lot 15 min. before the
show, it was perfect. Trey gets the crowd to "Stand Up! Stand Up!" Then
into...
Antelope... Not noted earlier, Fishman, who was still sitting on his drumkit,
picks up the vacuum and plays the Scat-like notes to Antelope. Listen to the
opening theme of any Antelope and you'll understand... he got his wah, wahs
out. Puts down the vacuum and Trey rips up a standard Antelope.
Encores. Left after Antelope, having to drive back to Chicago, and having
called...
Waste. Sounded like it usually does on the way out of a venue (muffled and,
"Thank god I beat the crowd out)
Didn't hear Golgi or Bittersweet at all. Oh well...
Hope this sheds some light on the show to those in the know, but wondering.
See you at Alpine and Deer Creek, and as I just learned, 3 nights at UIC
(Chicago) in the fall.
Hey everyone this was my first show this summer, and it was a great one.
Disclaimer: This was my 11th show, (9th in the last year), and I have 300
hours on tape. I have not heard anything else from this summer.
Grovel, for most anything, especially St. Louis.
Overall: This show was real good, the bust outs of Dog log, Glide, Buried,
and Kung were great to hear. On a wierd note, out of the 18 songs played
I had only seen 7 of them in my previous 10 shows!?!?!?
Note on the sound: UNREAL, the best sound I have heard at any show. Up
close at the Went was great, but this was amazing. Very loud and still
crystal clear. Paul, thank you, I guess you got the Dog Log you deserved.
Lights were great as always, but it was still light out for most of the
first set.
Lots at Riverport are real poor. Hardly any vending when i got there.
Long line for someone to LOOK at my ticket, then no line to get a pat
down, then no line to get my ticket ripped. It was real strange.
Before the show, outside the bathrooms I saw a guy come out from the
bathroom and just keel over and do a face plant into the pavement. I got
half way up and took another dive. People yelled for a Medic as he took
more dives an twitched around, Riverport Security (3 of them) looked on
from about 25 feet away and did NOTHING. The guy finnally got up and went
away with his friends, I guess, but I was appalled by the staff. They were
litterally watching him fall and slam his head on the ground....anyway
I sat on the edge of the tapers section, 30 rows back about center.
Security sucked with tapers getting hasselled about not being in the
correct seats. During the first seat a taper in front of me was forced
to move to his real seat, about 10 seats over. He had to abanden his
equipement for the set and move everything during setbreak. It was
horrible to see.
On to the show
Set 1
BATHTUB: 8:07 Great opener, way funked out. I kept thinking about the
Went Bathtub and if it could ever be matched. That was beauty, but this
was pure funk. Trey worked the jam back nicely with funked out Bathtub
melody licks. They brought it around great. 23 minutes of bliss
DOG LOG: 8:30 I had Trey give a couple licks after Bathtub ended and I
pulled out my pad and wrote down DOG LOG, I looked back at the stage and
Trey had still only strummed a few licks and they rest of the boys had not
joined in yet. I looked back down at what was written and I almost
crossed it out b/c I thought this could not be Dog Log, I must be getting
it mixed up with something else. But sure enough it was, phans were going
nuts. Trey mad ethe dedication saying it was Paul's favorite Phish song,
and he thanked Paul for all his great work. Dog log was great, a great
sing-along for true phans. You just have to laugh at the lyrics.
FOAM: As with a lot of points in this show there was a big pause as Trey
and Mike (mainly) decided on the next tune, this speaks for the lack of
segues. Foam was great, I had heard it at 11/23/96 (hartford). Foam
works real well with the FUNK.
FICUS: Wierd, wierd, short. Thats almost all i can say, the lyrics were
very muttered and to be honest I could barely make out a word. It wa only
a couple of minutes long.
FARMHOUSE: 8:50 People were loving this tune, not to different than the
other versions. But a bad placement after FICUS. There needed to be
something a little more like a Stash, or a Piper would have been great.
VULTURES: i really dig this tune, the fast part towards the beginning has
a Broadway show-esque sort of feel. It has been a little reworked toward
the end, not as much repeating at the end.
GLIDE: Another great breakout, a nice middle jam and at the end before
the Glide part, there was a long pause with almost no lights on the band
and then a unanimous gggggliiiiiiiiiiiiiidddddddddddddddeeeeee. Awesome!!
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: 9:05 I LOVE this song, great funk, and phat lyrics.
The very beginning and end are so cool. Just a great song, I would have to
say the best new song, along with Ghost in the last year or so. (Honerable
mention: BEK, although i have not heard MOMA DANCE.) This BIRDS seemed
like it was longer than 5 minutes, I think I may have screwed up my timing
a little.
Set ends at 9:10 (63 minutes)
Great set, short but ssswwweeeeeeeeettt. Ficus/Farmhouse wasn't the best
placement but hey. Who gives a shit when you get a 23 min. Bathtub, a Dog
Log and a Glide.
Set 2
BURIED ALIVE- : 9:56 Was not expecting this, and it was awesome. This
was not the 4 to 5 minute version of the past, this was a spacey 12 minute
Buried that raged throughout. In the middle of the jam, Trey stepped
forward and did his usual various peddle/effects jam/solo. He was playing
around with all his peddles like a mad man. Buried segued from Space
into...
"( YOU CAN) LOOK ME UP UNDER FOOL": 10:08 This was a pretty fun debut.
It was Beauty of my Dreams meets a more upbeat When the Circus comes to
town. Some lyrics about being Blue and you can look me up in the phone
book under fool. It had a short composed jam, pretty straight forward.
AC/DC: Great Bag, old-school Phish jam, no funk to speek of, got the
crowd dancin' like no other.
LIZARDS: Psyched to hear this, pretty standard (ie sweet). Nothing much to say.
TUBE: 10:29 My only call of the night, and it made my night. If nothing
else get this show for the Tube (and I guess for all the breakouts),
actually get all the Tubes they do this summer (still fairly rare). The
'new' Tube is sick, the funk stops here. WOW! There was another long
pause, and ...
KUNG?!?!: 10:39 Holy shit, Kung. Great to hear, AMAZING to see. The only
word is CRAZY. It had the phans chanting along. It had the Billy Breathes
fans wierded out at the "STAND UP, STAND UP." Trey was going nots flailing
his arms up and down. Funny as hell.
ANTELOPE: 10:44 Solid Antelope. Fish did his little singing thing in the
beginning. I have NO idea what people are talking about with saying that
he played the vaccuum at this part too. I don't think so at all. {This
is the second year that there has been confusion about other instruments
being played in second set closing Antelopes at St. Louis. Last year,
setlists said that Mike played a mini-drum kit during the Makisupa Jam
sandwiched in Antelope. Not true, he played a mini-rubber string bass. He
also played this another time last summer}. Great jam leading up to the
lyrics. Last year in St. Louis, Trey said Page was 'Marco Esquandolis',
this year it was Cactus Gordon and he treated us to a short bass solo.
Set ended at 10:57 (61 minutes), two short sets.
Overall (set 2): Buried, TUBE, Kung wow!
ENCORE
WASTE: 11:02 Waste.....of time, ha ha ha. But seriously it was, why place
this in the encore slot if everyone just stands still. The whole time I
was just thinking about how they really should do another encore. As I
saw Trey count out 1..2..3 I was psyched for just about anything, except
maybe Circus.
GOLGI: Sweet, got everyone pumped. I had never seen it and it was real
fun. So I was content, ready to leave and see Phish in a few weeks at the
Lemonwheel. But wait a third encore!
BITTERSWEET MOTEL: Slow tune, catchy lyrics, 'halfway between eerie and
pittsburgh', 'when all you got's a hammer and everything looks like a
nail', and 'you know you're at the Bittersweet motel' repeated a bunch.
Encore ends at 11:17 (15 minutes)
Great show, but only a tuneup for me for the Lemonwheel.
Thanks for reading. I have to insert another grovel for this show.
See y'all at the 'wheel,
Jon
This was my second show, the Dayton show last fall being my first so
my expectations were set high for Phish concerts from the start. When
I went in the fall I didn't really experience a lot scene so this time
I got a taste of what the Phish lot scene is like. So I am walking up
one of the rows checking out the vending and all of a sudden out of a
crowd of people comes Page and Mike in a golf cart. Now I heard Mike
had been doing this but to actually see them was incredible. Page was
driving and they just checked out the crowd and went on. That was a
great start to the show. To possibly put any merit on the review I am
about to give, I have 150 tapes so I have heard many versions of most
of the songs from this show. So here we go.
7/29/98 Riverport Ampitheatre - Maryland Heights, Missouri
I: Bathtub Gin, Dog Log*, Foam, "Waterfalls and Yellow Snakes"**,
Farmhouse, Vultures, Glide, Birds of a Feather (64 min)
II: Buried Alive, "Call Me If You Ever Need A Fool"^, AC/DC Bag,
Lizards, Tube, Kung, Run Like an Antelope
E: Waste, Golgi Apparatus, Bittersweet Motel
(II + E, 82 min)
* - Dedicated to Paul
** - new (?) song; eerie/trippy, with lyrics about "Waterfalls and
yellow snakes"
^ - new (?) song; quiet, country-like with lyrics "Call me if you ever
need a fool"
Set I:
Bathtub Gin- I have heard the Bathtub Gin from 12/29/95, the Went Gin,
the Winston-Salem Gin and many others and this one was my favorite.
The composed part was relatively flawless and Page was great on the
crazy keyboard fills. Into the jam I was praying for them to play a
long one and boy did they. The jam kept building into a jam very much
like the Gin from the Went but then instead of segueing out of the
song it went into a funky jam that was still Bathtub. That went on
for a while and a few minutes before it happened, my friend said "they
are going to finish it."
Sure enough they did, a la the "slow down" ending of Tweezer but with
the Gin music. Came in at about 25 minutes and was magnificent. Even
if the rest of this set doesn't look impressive to you, the Gin is a
must hear.
Dog Log- After they finished Gin, Trey walks up to the mic and says "I
would like to dedicate this next song to Paul, the best soundboard man
in the business" or something to that effect. I have never heard this
song before, but after hearing the lyrics "log, log, log, log, log"
"dog, dog, dog, dog, dog" I figured out pretty quickly what it was.
Cool song, I assume one they don't really jam on. Page had a cool
solo in it.
Foam- While this isn't one of my favorite songs on tape, I really
enjoyed it a lot in concert and this was because of Page's solo. The
jam part was just beautiful and not rushed. I was moved.
New Song- While I see in the internet setlist that the title to this
is unknown, I swear when I heard it at the concert I had heard it
before. And that was on the internet at Sugarmegs where the song was
listed as Ficus. Maybe I am dreaming, but I swear the song was Ficus.
Anyone I thought it was boring and muffled and frankly it needs some
work.
Farmhouse- This is one of my favorite non-jammed Phish songs and I was
very happy to see it. Trey's solos were great and I will never get
sick of hearing this song. I don't care if it doesn't change from
show-to -show.
Vultures- Okay, I have three tapes with this song on it so have heard
it before and I liked it before. Now I love it because they have
reworked it. I don't care if anyone disputes this point, but it is
not the same Vultures that was played last summer and fall. The
beginning is the same all the way into the jam, but then after a bit
they went back into the beginning again and repeated it. When they
went to go into the jam part again they changed keys, something they
had not done in previous versions. This key change was definitely
planned and is no doubt part of the song. They made a good song even
better.
Glide- Never expected to hear this at a concert and it made me smile
because it is a fun song to hear. Not much to it but I loved hearing
an older song that is pretty rare. Well I guess Dog Log and Kung are
pretty rare, too.
Birds of a Feather- I love the versions of this on my spring tour
tapes and I really wanted to hear this. I was not disappointed
becuase this song rocked very hard. Great song to close a set with.
The first set was strange for me because after the Bathtub Gin I was
expecting something different. Not necessarily better but not what we
got. Anyways, I thought this set was pretty cool. Not
earth-shattering but a solid set with new stuff and old stuff mixed
together with a wonderful Bathtub Gin.
Set II:
Buried Alive- When they came out for the second set they started
getting spacey like they were going to play 2001, but then instead of
Fishman kicking into the 2001 beat he kicked into the Buried Alive
beat, with Page accompanying on piano. And then the version that we
got was the best ever played?! The reason for the question mark and
exclamtion point is that I don't think they have ever jammed out this
song in the manner that they did at Riverport. So if that is the
case, then this easily is the best version ever because it took a song
that never changes and changed it after all these years. If I am
mistaken then sorry, but I believe they turned over a new leaf with
this song.
New Song- Never heard this before and it was basically a filler song
in the set where a bluegrass number would go. It was fine but I can't
really comment on it because I don't know anything about it. I will
say one thing, though. It was much more pleasant then the other new
song they played in the first set.
AC/DC Bag- Here is the deal with this song. It is one of my favorite
Phish songs, period. The version I heard at Dayton went into Psycho
Killer so it doesn't qualify as really "seeing" the song. The
versions from 11/21 Hampton and 12/30 Madison Square Garden both take
the song to new depths. This version was nothing like those versions.
It just raged like Bag's used to and frankly this is the type of
version of the song I prefer. I love jamming, but not from this song.
They played it perfectly and the rock-and-roll type jam just kept
building, as did the lights. I will take this moment to comment on
Chris' lighting. I always love what he does but he made this version
of the song. The strobes at the peak of the song were perfect.
Lizards- After AC/DC Bag ended, Trey started strumming the notes to
Lizards. Two Gamegendge songs in a row is cool. The noteworthy part
of this version is that Page's piano solo seemed to be longer than
normal. I could be imagining that but I swear it was. Both his
featured solos on Foam and Lizards really were inspiring.
Tube- Since I was in Dayton for the "famous" Tube, the one that is the
standard for all Tube's, I don't think I can ever see one that
compares, but I still like this one. The thing that disappointed me
about it, though, was that unlike the Dayton version, Page was
non-existent in the funk jam until the last minute or two of the 10
minute jam. For the jam to work, Page needs to have a solo in there
to set apart the jam from any other funk jam. While they have the
right idea with the funk, they need more Page on this song, like in
Dayton.
Kung- Biggest surprise of the night for me. It was Kung alright and
pretty funny to see in person. When Trey screamed "stand up" he kept
raising his hands like he wanted everyone to stand up. The weird
thing is that everyone was already standing up. Whatever.
Run Like an Antelope- Again, keep saying "I love this song," but I
love most of their songs. The biggest complaint I usually hear about
the song is that they rush the jam section and peak too soon. I had
no problem with the amount of time they took to peak, and the peak was
phenomonal. At one point I threw my fist in the air and accidentally
hit this girl. Whoops. I apoligized after the song and she
understood. The end part had a few bass solos from Mike that were
cool. Great version of the song and great lighting by Chris.
Again, not what I was expecting. To tell you the truth I was
expecting a Mike's Groove but I guess that is coming in Columbus,
hopefully. The second set was again very strong but nothing really
out of the ordinary. I enjoyed it a lot. I guess I just have 12/7/97
Dayton syndrome. It will be hard for something to top that show. But
I'm sure Phish will try for me in Columbus and Deer Creek.
Encore:
Waste- Novelty song which was pretty and a cool-down after the Antelope.
Golgi- High-energy song that was great to hear live for the first
time. I sang along.
Bittersweet Motel- I wasn't expecting a 3 song encore but Trey
strummed his guitar right after Golgi to signal another song. Short
and sweet. A cool-down song to end the show.
Overall I had a very enjoyable experience at the show and I loved
hearing every note of it. The songs were all played very well and the
Bathtub Gin was my favorite ever. Maybe they shouldn't have played
that first and raised the expectation of the show so high, but who am
I to say. A final note to the concert. At the very end, Trey gave
this wave to someone in the first few rows that was like when a person
waves at an infant. A childish wave. So either his child was at the
show, a child was in one of the first few rows, he waved childishly at
someone he knew or he just waved at some random person like they were
a baby. I can't wait for Columbus and Deer Creek. I'll see everyone
there.
Mickey
Great show. Isaw Mike and Page in the lot. Page gave us high five as th=
ey
drove by on a golf cart. According to some friends, Gordon was in the lo=
t
until 10 minutes before the show!?
Okay Bathtub Gin was very nice. It set the tone for the whole night. 23=
minutes long. It went Bathtub&gtJam&gtand then Trey busts back in to Bathtub=
,
Totally unexpectedly. Then after Btub, Dog Log starts up and says that D=
og
Log is Paul's favorite song so it was dedicated to Paul. Very nice
version. Foam was standard, nothing special. Ficus was nice and the cro=
ws
was shocked. Everyone asked throughout the night "what was that". =
Farmhouse was called by my buddy Andy. Very nice song. The new
arrangement of Vultures is cool. New drum part and the time is different=
=2E =
Glide was very cool. Again totally unexpected. Then to close Birds of a=
Feather. The best dancing song of the set. Great live. 65 minutes
set 2 At the begining they started to play around a little bit and then=
trey read someones sign. They busted into Buried Alive and then jammed o=
ff
of that for a good 5 to 10 minutes. Treay again looked in the direction =
of
the sign and they played Fooled By Images? or some song about if you need=
a
foool look me up in the phonebook. AC/DC Bag was the highlight at the
point in terms of fast paced kick butt jamming. Very awesome. One of the=
best for sure. Liazrds was next very nice. A small lyric flubb by TREY =
at
the part when they arrived at the water and the knight dove in. Tube was=
next. Standard start and then they stopped layed down the funk while
Gordon as laying down some dick.His solo was just awesome.Tube ended stro=
ng
and was followed by Kung. Trey was scary to say the least but it was ver=
y
cool. A standrd but short antelope with more gordon solo as trey turned =
to
him ans said MARCO-
At the beginning of Antelope playd on his vacuum for about 2 minutes. Th=
is
was missed by many people. After the show no one was really talking abou=
t
the vacuum. It was my first time seeing the vacuum so I was excited.
Encore. 3 songs. Andy called this again. Waste was great. Golgi was
awesome and bittersweet Motel was great.
Awesome show! Caught many people off guard a lot of the time, but Wow!
Peace
John York Whitler
Peoria IL
Set 1: Gin, Dog Log, Foam, ?, Farmhouse, Vultures, Glide, Birds
Set 2: Buried-?, AC/DC, Lizards, Tube, Kung-Antelope
E: Waste, Golgi, Bittersweet Motel
Well, we were at Riverport so of course the lot scene sucked. I saw a
girl get kicked out for selling burritos. I just headed straight in due to
this fact. Also due to the fact that they wouldn't let us really hang
around near the box office where I was supposed to meet somebody, I didn't
meet him. I went to my seat and it was all good, I met up with some really
cool people who liked the same aspects of Phish as me. Then the show
started . . .
Gin- HOLY SHIT!!! A twenty minute funked out version totally remeniscent
of the 7/25/97 show last year. It seemed like they were trying to make up
for the lack of jamming the previous night.
Dog Log- Dedicated to Paul. Short, but damn good.
Foam- YAY!!! One of my very favorite songs. Page took great solos as
usual, but the highlight was Trey's solo which was absolutely breathtaking.
?- Short, about a minute and a half. Real mellow and it sounds like it
would really fit in on Billy Breathes.
Farmhouse- I'm not a huge fan of this one, but Trey certainly took some
nice solos.
Vultures- I don't feel good about reviewing this one as I don't have any
on tape and the only one I can compare it to is Shoreline '97
Glide- Speaking of Shoreline '97, it the first Glide since then! I am in
love with this song. It wasn't jammed at all, but it was great to hear all
the same.
Birds of a Feather- I really dig this song. It's hard rock jamming and
catchy refrain really caught my ear. This one was well jammed and damn
good as a closer.
Overall- Definitely fun, and like last night it left me more than ready
for the second set. I tried to find the person I was supposed to meet
during the break, but no dice.
Buried Alive-?- I love Buried Alive, and this one was very well jammed.
It went about 13min. and segued into a song that I'd never heard before.
It had the lyrics "Call me if you ever need a fool" or something along
those lines.
AC/DC Bag- YEEEEHAAAH!!!! This one got jammed out like none other with a
little bit of funk mixed in with the usual Bag jam. This was good and
long, about 15 min. And then, over the clapping they started . . .
Lizards- Great to see. Wonderful Page solos and the vocals were extra
strong. Trey's closing solo was one of the most beautiful things I've ever
heard in my 55 shows.
Tube- This Tube was the embodiment of pure energy. It was well jammed,
with a good 10 min between the end of the opening verses and the closing
verse. It did omit the blues section that many of the recent ones have
had, though.
Kung-Antelope- MMMMM Kuuuung. It was insanity and I thought the
security people were going to go into seizures when people started standing
on their seats during the "STAND UP!!" lines. The segue into Antelope was
perfect coming out of a short space jam that was the result of Trey's
building guitar to end Kung. It was fully jammed and full of energy.
Probably ten minutes before the low funk part before the lyrics kicked in,
and then another five before the lyrics. It was excellent and a perfect
way to close the set.
Overall- One of the highest energy sets I've ever witnessed. Incredible
jamming and a kickass setlist made this one of my top ten shows.
Waste, Golgi, Bittersweet Motel- Waste was a big letdown for me. After a
huge set like that, I was really expecting Stash or something big. A very
nice breeze kicked in, though to make up for Trey's poor soloing on this
song. Golgi was up next and it got the energy back up again. It never
changes much and this one was no different. Bittersweet Motel brought the
energy back down, but Trey's spectacular solos more than made up for it.
An amazing show that matched an excellent night. As an aside, vending was
in full swing on the way out, and I never did find my friednd(I talked to
him today, though, and he had as good a time as I did).
Ryan